Chapter Eleven
Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is for fun.
Dean stomped down the familiar trail from the caves to the beach, a string of curse words lingering in the air behind him. He reached over to the sling he had been cooperatively wearing since his injury and ripped it off with as much malice as he could muster.
Go back to the beach.
He could feel his body grow hot with more and more anger as he replayed the conversation he had just been a part of in his mind and fought to keep the blood coursing through his veins from exploding through his skin. He needed a plan. "Sam was always the planner," he admitted as he sped up his trek back to the beach.
You're still injured. You'll only slow us down.
"Dean, wait up," he heard Kate yell behind him, effectively breaking through his musings. He didn't even spare her a glance as he let out a derisive snort and threw the scrap of cloth he'd torn from his arm over his shoulder with the lone hope that it hit her square in the face. What was the matter with him lately? Had he spent so much time as his dad's lapdog that he immediately needed to fill that void now that he was alone?
"Hell no," Dean muttered as he shook his head at his own thoughts. He clenched his teeth and quickened his pace into a dead sprint as the tree line that separated the beach from the jungle finally came into view. He could hardly contain the intent smile that spread across his face while he rolled his unused shoulder back and forth to get it warmed up.
"DEAN!" Kate yelled out again.
He couldn't stop his eyes from rolling as he halted to a stop and whirled around on Kate viciously. "WHAT?"
Kate backed up a few steps at the look on Dean's face, her eyes wide with shock before she regained her composure and squared her shoulders. "Dean, you have to think about this, alright? You ARE still injured. You're only gonna slow Jack down."
"Oh screw you, Kate," Dean hissed. He watched as his tone forced a wince across her features and found that he could barely muster the strength to care. "Look, I get that you're in love with the guy and we're all supposed to bow down to him, but you don't know a damn thing about me, so quit acting like you give a shit."
Kate's jaw dropped as her eyes narrowed in an anger nearly identical to his own. She picked up the discarded sling and threw it back in his face ferociously. "What the hell is your problem?"
"My problem?" Dean allowed an incredulous smirk to spread across his entire face as he shook his head at her cluelessness. "My problem is that nobody on this island will listen to a damn thing anybody says unless it's coming from Doctor Sexy's mouth. Were you even aware that getting rid of the bodies in the fuselage was Hurley's idea? Yeah, he asked us all about it the morning after the crash. Now, when did we actually take care of the fuselage? That's right…several days later when Jack suggested it."
Kate watched as Dean spitefully tossed the sling on the ground and spat on it. "So, you're just jealous of Jack? Is that it?"
Dean's smirk only widened as an amused chuckle worked its way up his throat and accompanied his disbelief. "Don't flatter yourself, sweetheart. I may only have a GED education, but Jack doesn't know shit about the real world. Besides, what does it say about you if you're so willing to go along with everything he says despite him doing the exact opposite of everything you say? I've been in a one sided relationship my entire life, Kate…it's not fun."
He threw one more scoff in Kate's direction before he resumed his trek to the tree line, intent on getting as far away from Kate and Jack as he could while he considered his own options. He was annoyed to admit that his shoulder did still hurt, but it wasn't the kind of mind numbing pain that was associated with having to hunt a werewolf while he nursed two cracked ribs. "I still managed to gank that son of a bitch, didn't I?"
He made it back to his tent in record time and packed as many supplies as he figured that he'd need to withstand a search in the jungle. As he closed up his pack and slung it across his shoulders, his mind went straight to Sam. Why wasn't he trying this hard to find his brother? Sam had been gone for a helluva lot longer than just a few hours and he'd barely started to look for him before he let that damned arrow in his shoulder halt any further attempts to find him.
That's because you know I can take care of myself, his brother's voice chastised him as he left his tent and went after the only person that could help put his plan into action.
"Hey, have you heard about what's been going on, lately?" Dean asked as he stopped in front of Sawyer's tent and leaned against one of the trees casually. He waited, patiently, while Sawyer first smirked at the interruption and then made a big show out of lowering his paperback in nonchalance.
"I'm gonna assume you're referring to the mama cub and Ringo Starr getting themselves snatched up right under our fearless leader's very nose," Sawyer surmised.
"Dude, not that I'm much into giving Jack credit, but it happened while they were both far away from anyone," Dean clarified for him. "Doesn't matter, the last time I checked, this is a desert island and there's only so many places either of them could be." He stared off into the distance as his thoughts of what he already knew about the island took over before he momentarily shook them off. "How's the arm doing?"
"Just about to ask you the same question there," Sawyer answered. "Thought you wasn't supposed to take that sling off until the good ol' Doc gave you his thumbs up."
"Unlike you, I'm not dependent on the tiny stash of pain killers and antibiotics that he holds ransom so that his puppets keep dancing," Dean shot back.
"I ain't nobody's puppet, Superman," Sawyer informed him as the grin he had been wearing during their conversation began to fade.
"Prove it."
Sawyer's expression waned as a look of curiosity graced his features. He watched Dean for a moment more, what Dean could only assume was supposed to be intimidating before he let out a deep huff with a shrug. "You look like you got a plan swirlin' around in that pretty boy head of yours."
"Oh, I do," Dean told him. "We're gonna go find them."
"We are, huh?" Sawyer asked. Dean nodded again as Sawyer stood up and stretched out his atrophied muscles before he gave his full attention back to Dean. "What's Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman have to say about all this?"
"I don't give a shit if he's been voted island president and I'm breaking his number one law," Dean hissed. He couldn't help but match the grin that slowly spread across Sawyer's face as he was awarded with a nod of approval.
"Well, alright Superman. It's about time you jumped on my wagon. Can't help but wonder, though. What'd the doc do to have you starting his anti fan club?"
Dean paused as he let Sawyer's question sink in before he threw a spare pack full of supplies at him. "He underestimated me."
"Did you find anything?" Dean heard Kate ask as he and Sawyer rounded a bend to find her and Jack with Locke and Boone.
"No," Jack answered as he shook his head in disappointment.
"Not shocked," Dean called out. He was half tempted to throw a smug head nod in their direction as they all four awarded him and Sawyer with looks of shock. "Not only were you going in a circle, but I'm pretty sure they don't teach tracking skills in med school."
Jack shook his head incredulously as he dropped his arms to his sides in exasperation. "What the hell are you two doing out here? You're both injured."
"Not too injured to find the trail that took…" Dean pointed to Kate, Boone, Locke and then Jack before he held up four lazy fingers. "…four of you to find. I seem to recall that you guys started way sooner than us also."
"This isn't a competition, Dean," Kate informed him.
"Lucky for you, or we'd be winning," he shot back.
"Alright, that's enough. This isn't helping us find Claire or Charlie," Locke interrupted them.
Dean nodded his head with a shrug as he fought back the urge to laugh at how pissed Locke must have been to have to play tour guide to three people that knew nothing about tracking. "It's good to see you Dean, we could use the help. You," he began as he pointed over at Jack, "should go back to the caves, Sayid's leg."
"I dressed Sayid's leg," Jack informed him as he frantically tried to keep pace with Locke. "You found me, we can find Charlie and Claire. Now, do we have a trail to follow or not?"
"Jack, this is my fault," Locke stopped him.
"What the hell's he mean this is his fault?" Sawyer asked. Dean and Boone didn't even spare him a glance as they both shrugged off his question.
"What?" Jack asked.
"I've been hunting with Ethan…spending time with him. I never sensed anything…" he trailed off as he waved his hand in a vague motion. "Off." He caught his breath as he looked at Jack with sheer determination on his face. "But, for everything I know about hunting…tracking…he knows more. If we catch up to him, I don't want anything to happen to the only trained physician on the island, so go back. Be the doctor. Let me be the hunter."
Dean resisted the urge to clap at Locke's genuine speech, legitimately impressed that the older hunter had managed to sound so sincere as he tried to get Jack out of a situation that he was neither trained nor ready for. "Why do I get the feeling that speech isn't gonna work?" Boone asked.
They all watched as Jack shared frustrated glances with everyone in the clearing before he shook his head. "Can we go now?" He asked as he jabbed his thumb in the direction behind him.
"That's why," Dean told Boone.
They watched as Locke tersely instructed Jack to follow him while they both walked away, leaving behind an annoyed Sawyer, frustrated Dean, clueless Boone and a worried Kate. "He's gonna get himself killed, just so he can prove he's a hero," Sawyer hissed.
"I'm pretty sure he's not just trying to prove he's a hero," Dean corrected him. "I think he feels responsible. He knows, in the end, that despite Claire's warnings, he rebuffed her and that's what drove her back to the beaches."
Kate shot Dean a grateful look over her shoulder that Sawyer could only roll his eyes and scoff at. "I don't care what he's feeling. I ain't about to put my neck on the line for some idiot with any kind of heroic fixation."
"That's fine," Dean told him with a shrug. "We aren't far from the beach, just head back."
Dean knelt low to the ground as Locke rummaged around in his pack, finally gracing Boone and Dean with a smile as he drew out a bright red t-shirt. Dean looked up at him and smiled back with an impressed nod. "That's actually a great idea, man. Just in case it ends up raining or something."
"What are you talking about?" Boone asked. A genuine curiosity covered his face as he watched Locke tear a strip of fabric from the red t-shirt and tie it around a tree.
"Locke's marking our progress by line of sight," Dean explained to him as he motioned to the new flag. "He ties those off, at various places on the trail, so we don't get lost."
Boone nodded his head at the explanation before his eyes narrowed as they watched a new question immediately entered his mind. "But, even if there is rain, one of you can lead us back to camp, right?"
Dean slapped him on the shoulder as he shook his head optimistically. "Ideally, that's what's gonna happen. However, considering there's a guy, somewhere in this jungle, that disappeared two of our people in broad daylight, we have to account for the chance that something could happen to us."
Boone nodded his head again as his earlier curiosity seemed to turn into stark realization. "Maybe I better take marker detail," he said as he held out his hand for the rest of the t-shirt on Locke's shoulder. Locke smiled appreciatively over at him with a nod and handed it over while Dean chuckled in amusement.
"Anything?" Jack interrupted their moment as he and Kate came back into their clearing, both out of breath.
"Not yet," Locke informed him as he leaned against the tree he had just marked in an effort to catch his breath. Dean nodded over at Jack in the same manner, quickly realizing that the trail they had been following earlier was now completely gone.
Jack shook his head in disappointment at Dean and Locke as he walked right past them. "If you can't find the trail…" he sneered.
"Then what?" Dean asked. "You're gonna find it?"
"I'll pick it up again," Locke argued, finally feeling the agitation of the situation as Jack tried to lead them through the jungle with no clue what he was doing.
"You need to get off his ass and let him rest for a moment," Dean cut in as he reached into his pack and withdrew a water bottle that he took several drinks from while Locke did the same. He shot Jack a challenging look as he handed his bottle over to Boone so he could get in a few drinks before they started their hike again.
"You're gonna take a break?" Jack asked in disbelief. "It's gotta be almost four o'clock. When the sun sets, there's no way…"
"It's four twenty five," Locke corrected him. "And yes, I'm taking a break." Jack's eyes followed Locke as he walked right past him and took a seat on a lone rock. Dean could tell that Jack was fighting to keep his emotions in check as he clenched his jaw while he watched Locke open his pack, again, and dig around in it.
He glanced over at Kate, his eyes wide as he grinded his teeth down and motioned over to Jack, silently telling her that she needed to calm him down. She rolled her eyes back at him before she nodded and sidled up next to Jack. "Can I talk to you for a sec?" She didn't even wait for his response before she turned and led him away from all of them.
"What's going on with him?" Boone asked as he took a seat on the ground next to Locke.
"No clue, but he needs to calm down, "Dean told him. "Now."
"He's just upset that the trail's gone cold," Locke bit out to Boone and Dean.
"Yeah, I know," Dean confirmed as he graced the area around them with another cursory glance. "I'll be honest, I'm not sure how someone goes from walking around with two people one moment and then all of a sudden they're gone. Unless he can fly or someone was able to…" he trailed off and cocked his head to the side as his eyes caught a flash of something white in the bushes.
"Able to what?" Boone asked.
Dean ignored him as he knelt down and cautiously approached the foliage, all too aware of what had happened the last time he'd found something foreign in this same jungle. He finally reached the item and bent down to retrieve it. "What the hell?" Pinched between his thumb and finger was a dirty piece of tape with the letter 'L' written in black marker.
"Didn't Charlie wear those on his fingers?" Boone asked.
"Well, I think the trail just got hot again," Lock commented with a smile and a pat on Dean's back.
Jack rushed forward towards a tree branch and gingerly fingered another piece of tape, this time with the letter 'A' written on it with a smile before he held it up for Boone and Kate to see. "They went this way."
"I'm not so sure," Locke disputed as he and Dean stared down at the jungle floor in a completely different direction from where Jack had found the most recent of Charlie's tape. "He's right," Dean confirmed. "There's another trail over here."
Jack let out a deep groan as he wiped the sweat off his forehead with a shaky hand. "What do you mean another?"
"I'm not really seeing how that's not a self explanatory statement," Dean told him as he shook his head in disbelief.
"These are footprints," Locke clarified as he pointed behind him at the trail they had found. "People moved off this way." Jack rushed forward to see for himself what Locke and Dean had found before he turned back to them and held up the tape he had found.
"Charlie's leaving these for us to follow," he argued as he indicated his evidence. "They went that way."
"Unless Charlie's not the one leaving them," Kate spoke up. She seemed to shrink under their gazes as all four of them gave her their full attention before she continued. "If Ethan knows we're behind him, he could be setting up a dummy trail. Take off in one direction…double back in his old footprints."
Dean glanced around at the others, not surprised to see the shock on Jack's face and the awe on Locke's. "Does anyone else think that was the hottest thing they've ever heard?" Dean asked aloud.
"Wait, now you're a tracker?" Boone asked her.
"You're just full of surprises," Locke managed to comment as his eyes stayed glued to Kate.
"So, we've got two trails. Let's split up," Jack suggested. "I'll take that one," he said as he pointed down the one he had found.
"No, we should stay together, Jack," Locke disagreed vehemently.
"Why? We've got two trails and apparently, two trackers," he said, motioning over to Kate.
"Uh, three," Dean corrected him as he pointed to himself.
Locke glanced back over at Dean and nodded before he turned back to Jack with a weary expression. "Be careful." He glanced over at Dean and silently asked him which group he would be heading out with on this little plan.
"I'm going with those two," he shouted as he passed Locke with a nod. "Someone has to make sure she can actually track them back to camp." Dean waited for Locke to acknowledge his decision before he sped up in order to catch up with Jack and Kate. He had barely managed to catch up to Kate before she sped up and pulled away from him spectacularly. "What the hell…" he murmured as he pushed forward and gritted his teeth against the frustration he felt at both of his people leaving him behind. "Kate, slow down."
"We have to catch up to Jack," she shouted back over her shoulder. "JACK! WAIT UP!" Dean let out a deep sigh as he sprinted faster and managed to finally match her pace. He couldn't even see Jack in front of him as they both continued ahead.
"Where is he?" Dean asked around huffs of air.
"Right in front of us," Kate told him. "I swear it almost feels like he's trying to lose us."
"That'd actually be genius," Dean told her with a snort. "What better way to find our missing people than for him to lose the only trackers that are with him. Sawyer was right…this hero complex is getting to be bullshit."
"Jack! Can you please slow down?" Kate yelled again as she ignored Dean's ranting.
"If this isn't the dummy trail then we're going the right way, right?" Jack finally responded to her pleas.
"I said that he COULD have made a dummy trail. I'm not as good at this as Locke is," Kate clarified as Jack finally stopped and they all three worked to catch their breaths. Dean leaned forward and rested on his knees before he withdrew the same water bottle from his pack so he could cure the burning in his throat.
"So, where'd you pick up the tracking skills, Kate? Was that before or after you were on the run?" Jack asked in a snide tone.
"I'm trying to help, Jack," Kate told him as Dean took a few steps back from their 'lover's quarrel' and sipped at his water bottle.
"You know what might help? A little honesty. Just give me something real. Anything," Jack requested.
"Yeah, Kate's life story is really gonna help Charlie and Claire get found," Dean piped up.
"Look, if it helps, my dad was in the army," Kate admitted reluctantly. "Ranger Battalion. We were stationed at
Fort Lewis in Washington State. We would go hiking together…one day we spent eight hours tracking deer. Being in the woods it was like…it was like his religion."
Dean and Jack watched as Kate looked away from them and crouched down on the ground, almost pained that she had shared that experience with them, but Dean could relate. He'd spent his entire life raised and trained on his dad's religion and all it had gotten him was 26 years of loneliness, close calls to death and a bad temperament.
He shot an understanding smile to Kate as she stood and walked towards them, which she returned before it fell and she locked eyes with Jack. "That was real. Anything you wanna share, Jack?"
He met her stare with one of his own, something that Dean could almost describe as understanding before he shook his head at her question. Well, at least the awkwardness between those two seemed to be abating. Dean smiled slightly before it fell as he breathed in a nose full of the jungle air around them. "You guys smell that, right?" he asked. Kate and Jack both turned to him and shot him identical questioning glances before they both breathed in deeply through their noses.
"What are we supposed to smell besides trees?" Jack asked wearily.
"Is that…" Kate trailed off as she breathed in again. "Rain?"
"Yeah, I don't see any clouds yet, but we all know rain falls pretty fast on this island with no clouds in sight," Dean told them. "We have to get a move on or any approaching rain'll wash away the trail."
Dean followed sedately behind Kate and Jack as the rain poured down around them, careful to keep an eye out for anything that could surprise them in the dark, but also unwilling to succumb to the sort of panic that Jack seemed to have latched onto. He watched as both he and Kate rushed down to the foot of a hill they had been climbing, while he stayed put so he could resume his observations.
"I guess we were right," Jack shouted over his shoulder, drawing Dean's attention to him. He followed their footprints down the same hill and stopped next to them as Jack reached forward and picked up another piece of tape, this one sporting an 'L' written on the front, that had almost been completely covered with mud.
Dean couldn't help but smile along with Jack and Kate as they all seemed to expel similar sighs of relief that the trail they had been following all afternoon had gotten them somewhere close to where they needed to be. "Where to now?" Jack asked them both, cutting the light mood immediately.
Dean glanced around for a moment with Kate, hoping there was something else that the rain had yet to wash away that could lead them further when a strange sound stopped him cold. He'd heard that sound before, hadn't he?
"Is that the wind?"
"There's no way in hell that's the wind," Dean answered Kate as he held up his hands to silence them both. What was it about this jungle and strange noises? They listened intently as the same noise rose again, this time from up a hill in front of them. Dean lowered his arm back to his side as his wide eyed gaze went all the way to the top of that hill.
"It's Claire," Jack whispered as he ran past him and grabbed a root to start his climb up.
"Jack! Jack, wait…where are you going?" Kate shouted after him as she hurried behind him to the hill. Dean inwardly groaned as he followed behind her, half convinced that Jack would only get himself killed if he was allowed to roam around on his own.
"JACK!" Kate shouted again, as they both watched him finally turn around halfway through his climb, his face full of conviction.
"Did you hear her?"
"What? Hear who?" Kate asked as Jack turned back around and resumed his climb.
"He thinks its Claire," Dean told her as he pushed her forward to follow him. They both struggled to gain on Jack's lead while he continued to climb. They had almost made it next to him when Dean saw Jack slip and grabbed Kate around the waist and pulled her close to him while Jack slid back past them.
"JACK!" Kate yelled as she struggled against Dean's hold.
"Kate! Stop! You might get hurt," Dean told her as he set her back down in front of him and they both moved to descend back down the hill. He managed to keep close enough to Kate that he was able to catch her the two or three times that the rain tried to take her footing and kept her from rolling back down the hill with Jack. "Kate, you gotta calm down and take it slower."
"He could be hurt, Dean," Kate practically sobbed over her shoulder.
"And if you get hurt, also, then that's two of you that I have to carry back to camp," Dean reprimanded her as he grabbed tightly onto her bicep. Kate glanced down at his death grip on her arm before she met his eyes in the rain and nodded her understanding.
"Ok, good, now get behind me and match my steps," Dean instructed her as he climbed around her still form and began a careful trek down the rest of the hill.
He reached the bottom first and was shocked to find Jack halfway across the clearing, out cold with blood seeping from a few cuts on his face. "Oh my god," Kate murmured as she ran across the opening to his unconcious form. Dean glanced from where he was standing to the several yards where Jack was and shook his head immediately.
"There's no way in hell that he would have landed there. Not from just sliding down that hill," Dean informed Kate as she settled down next to Jack and tried to rouse him.
"He's out cold."
Dean nodded up at her while he hunkered down on the other side of Jack and lightly tapped at his face as he took an inventory of the cuts and already forming bruises on his nose and mouth. "What the hell did he hit his face on?"
"Dean, we have to wake him up," Kate frantically pleaded with him.
Dean thanked whatever god was up there watching his pathetic excuse for an existence as the rain finally let up while he tapped on Jack's cheeks a little harder, smiling as his eyes finally began to flutter.
"Jack?" Kate asked, a teary smile in her voice. "Are you ok?"
Jack moaned as his eyes opened fully and crossed a bit before they finally refocused on the two of them bent over him. "How long was I out?" he asked in a pained voice.
"I don't know…a few minutes," Kate told him as she motioned frantically with her hands. "You slipped. With all the rocks and everything…"
"Ethan," Jack interrupted her as he grimaced and moved to stand.
"What?"
"Ethan was here," Jack reaffirmed.
"You banged your head," Kate told him.
"No, he didn't," Dean interrupted. Jack and Kate both gazed over in his direction as Dean clenched his jaw and fist in anger. "There's no way you hit your face that badly on the way down. He did all that to you, didn't he?" Jack reached up and gingerly touched his split lip before he winced at the action and nodded his head. "What'd he say to you?"
Dean watched the regret fill Jack's eyes as he looked down at the ground sheepishly for a few moments before he regained his composure and met Dean's look with one of determination. "He told me if we didn't stop following him, that he'd kill one of them."
Kate let out a surprised gasp as Dean's jaw clenched even further. He knelt down next to his pack and fumbled through the items he had filled it with as he shook his head incredulously. "I guess that answers the question of whether he's the bad guy or not."
"Dean, what are you doing?" Kate asked as she moved closer to Jack while he swayed a bit on his feet.
Dean pulled out a machete and two large knives with a satisfied smile. He held each knife out to Kate and Jack and watched as they cautiously took them before he pulled the leather holster off of his machete and twirled it around a few times. "I was seriously hoping that this wouldn't come down to shedding blood, but this son of a bitch kidnapped two of our people and now he's threatening us just because we're looking for them. May as well be a monster, in my book."
"What are we waiting for?" Jack asked with a nod of appreciation at Dean. Dean could only smile back as he nodded his head in the opposite direction of the hill they had just tried to climb and started off in that direction.
"Ok, wait. Both of you stop," Kate shouted as she threw her knife down in the mud. "The rain has washed away the trail."
"No, I'm not letting him do this," Jack told her as he rushed forward and into the trees. Dean glanced back at Kate with a deep sigh and pointed at the knife at her feet that was halfway stuck in the mud. "My dad gave me that when I was thirteen. He may not have been Army Ranger Battalion, but he was a Marine and my hero. I'd appreciate if you treated it with a little more respect."
He watched her closely as she bent down to pick it up and wiped the mud away on her wet clothes before she graced him with an uncomfortable glance. "Sorry." She waited as he nodded at her before she scurried past him after Jack.
"He may not know it yet, but Locke owes me big time for taking on those two," Dean murmured as he turned and followed after them. He couldn't help but wonder how serious Ethan was about his earlier threat as he tried to catch up to both Kate and Jack before he heard the unmistakable sound of Kate's startled gasp. "Jack must have tripped on a hidden root."
"No!" Dean heard Jack remark in horror as he ate his words and immediately sped up his pace. He burst through some thick brush and landed solidly next to Kate as she stared bewildered in front of her.
"Oh god," he muttered as his eyes landed on Charlie, blindfolded and hanging by the neck on several thick vines. He rushed forward and shouldered Charlie's right leg while Jack held up his left side while trying to keep his shaking under control. He was terrified. "Kate, you gotta cut him down. The knife I gave you," Dean shouted back as Kate ran past them and started to climb the vines.
"Hang on Charlie. Hang on," Jack shouted in a panicked voice while Dean monitored Kate while she continued to climb.
"Jack, we need to bring him closer to Kate or she won't be able to reach him," Dean instructed Jack as they both walked a few steps to their right and stopped as they felt Kate begin to hack away at the vines. "Harder," Dean instructed her as he realized that not only was Charlie not moving, but he wasn't breathing either and he wasn't even aware of how long he'd been not breathing.
They both heard the vines snap before they realized it and scrambled to catch Charlie before his head smacked into the ground. They both got him laid down as Jack moved to his head and removed the blindfold covering his eyes. He opened them both and checked his pupils and then his mouth before he shook his head. "He's not breathing."
"You take the airways, I'll do compressions," Dean told him as they both positioned themselves next to Charlie, while Kate took a hold of his limp hand. Dean watched closely as Jack blew into Charlie's mouth twice before he nodded at him and Dean started the chest compressions. He counted down vigilantly and nodded for Jack to continue while he waited to start again. Nothing.
"It's not working," Dean remarked as Kate began to openly cry at their wasted efforts.
"No!" Jack shouted as he bent down and breathed twice more into Charlie's mouth before he pushed Dean away and solidly pounded down on Charlie's chest as hard as he could. Kate let out a deep sob as she got up and turned her back on their efforts while Dean once again tried to get Jack's attention.
"Jack, you have to stop. He's gone," Dean told him.
"NO! Come on, Charlie. COME ON!" Jack shouted as he continued to beat down on Charlie's chest. Dean shook his head in frustration as he got up and put his arms around Kate. She spun around and openly wept into his chest while they both tried to block out Jack's ministrations.
"Come on! Come on!" Jack continued to shout before Kate finally pushed away from Dean and ran forward to grab Jack's arm.
"Jack! No. He's not…he's not coming…" she couldn't even finish her words as she broke down in another round of sobs and pulled Jack far enough away from Charlie's body that all they could do was stare down at him in sorrow. "It's ok," Kate murmured as she rubbed Jack's shoulder comfortingly.
"No," Jack groaned as he shook his head and pushed Kate away. "No."
He scrambled back over to Charlie and continued to pound away at his unmoving chest while Kate turned away again, her hysterics getting the better of her as Dean leaned down next to Jack. "Jack, he's gone."
"No, he's not," Jack hissed as he continued to work.
"JACK! STOP!" Kate yelled around her cries.
"Come on," Jack seethed as he ignored them both.
Dean and Kate both jumped as they heard a strong and sharp gasp for air interrupt Jack's pounding. They both spun around to see Charlie's eyes open as he tried to suck in as much air as his lungs would allow. Dean could only stand in shock as Kate rushed down next to him and whispered soothing instructions with Jack for him to keep breathing.
He looked fine.
Not counting the time they had been trying to revive him, he'd been without oxygen for far too long. What the hell was going on?
"You look like you've had one helluva day," Sawyer remarked as Dean collapsed into one of the plane chairs surrounding the signal fire.
"I think I passed 'one helluva day' a few houses back," Dean corrected him as he rolled his head back and forth until he heard and felt the desired pop. "Right about now, I'd kill for a beer."
"Ain't got a beer, but how's this instead?" Sawyer asked as he held out one of the miniature bottles of Jack Daniels that the airplane had been stocked with. Dean reached for it with a raised eyebrow before he stopped and glanced up at him.
"How much is this gonna cost me?"
"Free. Think of it as even for me leaving you out with the Justice League today," Sawyer told him as he took a seat next to him at the fire. "You guys end up finding them?"
"We found Charlie. Son of a bitch had lynched him on some vines," Dean informed him as he took a healthy shot of the whiskey.
Sawyer digested his words as he stared out at the fire in front of them. "He gonna be ok?"
"Jack managed to revive him, but he's more than a little traumatized. When I left the caves he wasn't talking and just kept staring out in front of him," Dean explained to him. "We weren't able to find Claire."
Sawyer nodded his head at the new information as he withdrew a second whiskey bottle and took a shot of it himself. "Did you know that Apu was back?" he asked.
"Yeah…he stumbled back into the caves earlier today, but after everything that happened, it completely slipped my mind," Dean told him with a shrug. "Why, what'd you do?"
"Nothing, nothing," Sawyer assured him as he held up his hands innocently. "Trust me, I had every intention of making that son of a bitch pay for using me to recapture his golden Iraqi days, but what good would it get me?"
Dean nodded over at him, clearly impressed as they each downed the rest of their whiskey and he handed his empty bottle back to Sawyer with an appreciative smile. "He mention to any of you that he found the French woman?" Sawyer asked.
"Well, he was pretty damn injured when he got there, but he managed a few sentences about us not being alone. I think his news isn't as breaking considering that someone not on our plane kidnapped two of our people," Dean reasoned as he stood up and stretched out his muscles, wincing as his shoulder tweaked a little too much. "I'm heading to bed…maybe think up some way to get Claire found."
"I get the feeling that Claire ain't gonna get found unless they let us find her," Sawyer told him. He waited until Dean turned back around before he shot him with a knowing look. "The way Sayid was talking about these 'others' had him spooked. I figure that's saying a lot considering Sayid's a genuine Iraqi torturer."
Dean nodded his head at Sawyer disconsolately as he let out a deep breath around a shrug. "If there are other people on this island…people that were here before us, there's only one thing I can't understand."
"Oh yeah? And what's that?"
"What the hell do they want with a pregnant girl from Australia?"
Author's Note: I, in no way, intended for this story to go so long without an update. I've been operating under the at least one chapter a month philosophy, but life is tricky and has completely blocked my path for the last few months. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. I always intended for Dean and Sawyer to be better allies than Dean and Jack and this is the start of that. I don't think Jack would have done as well of a job during the time travel into Dharma territory as Sawyer did. He's a natural leader, he just has a lifetime as a con artists stopping him. Same with Dean. Anywho, the new chapter WILL NOT take as long, but please review anyways! It makes me so happy! It's what pushed me to get this one FINALLY done, because of all the kinds words that ya'll had to say. It's much appreciated!